In the wake of ProPublica’s blockbuster story revealing that a corrupt Russian oligarch paid for Don Jr’s wedding party in May, several things have happened.
“It was everything we dreamed of and more,” his wife later wrote on Instagram.
That dream was heavily funded by a secret benefactor: Umar Kremlev, a Russian oligarch close to President Vladimir Putin.
Kremlev footed the bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars of wedding expenses, according to records reviewed by ProPublica and interviews with three people familiar with the event. The oligarch paid to rent out one of the private islands, where a reception was held and where guests slept. He also covered other big-ticket items, like the fireworks show, and his team helped plan the event. Kremlev is the head of the International Boxing Association, a scandal-plagued sports group that has been financed by the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom. The wedding payments came from an IBA-affiliated entity in Dubai that the boxing association uses for financial transactions.
The guest list numbered around 50. It included Trump Jr.’s brother-in-law Jared Kushner, Eric Trump — and Kremlev, an imposing man with a shaved head who speaks limited English. The oligarch was part of a large group whose presence puzzled other attendees. They sometimes stood off by themselves, speaking Russian.
“It was really small, like, just really close friends,” Trump Jr. later said on his podcast. “Tried to keep it really tight. And it was just awesome.”
Kremlev’s previously unreported relationship with Trump Jr. represents an extraordinary development: a member of Putin’s circle financially supporting the president’s son and gaining intimate access to the Trump family.
First, Julie Ioffe provided context on who Umar Kremlev is. He’s the bagman for Putin’s bodyguard, Alexei Rubezhnoy.
With Kremlev, things are much more straightforward. He has advertised his proximity to Vladimir Putin, who bestowed several state medals on him. And as the independent outlet Proekt has meticulously documented, he is also the business partner of Alexei Rubezhnoy, the head of Putin’s presidential security service and chief bodyguard. “Kremlev is the ‘wallet’ of the person closest to Putin,” said Mikhail Zygar, the Russian journalist and author of All the Kremlin’s Men, using Russian slang for a front. Even Kremlev’s last name, which he chose for himself in 2010 at the age of 28, says it all: kreml in Russian means Kremlin. His last name literally means “the Kremlin’s.”
Meanwhile, Bettina’s description of Kremlev as “a dear friend” strains credulity. Kremlev, the longtime head of the scandal-plagued International Boxing Association, met Trump Jr. last September, in Istanbul, at an event he organized with Manny Pacquiao. Trump Jr., a boxing fan, appeared on a panel with Kremlev and Pacquiao where he praised Kremlev for fighting “corruption” and returning “purity” to the sport—by which he meant banning transgender women. (Both Pacquiao and Kremlev have taken vociferously anti-LGBT positions in public.)
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While riding with the Night Wolves, Kremlev met Rubezhnoy, who had risen through an elite F.S.B. unit into the Federal Security Service (F.S.O.), Russia’s analogue of the Secret Service. Both were avid boxers, as was the president they served, who has referred to the sport as “the most spectacular and masculine.” Kremlev became a boxing promoter and, through Rubezhnoy, secured his client, American boxer Roy Jones Jr., an audience with Putin in occupied Crimea. During the meeting, Jones requested—and received—Russian citizenship.
Rubezhnoy soon helped install Kremlev as head of the International Boxing Association, which was bankrolled until recently by Gazprom, the Russian state gas giant. Kremlev built boxing gyms and organized tournaments across Russia and Central Asia. More importantly, he helped lead the charge against the International Olympic Committee to reinstate Russian athletes, barred from competing under their flag because of the country’s invasion of Ukraine and various doping scandals. (International athletic competitions are of utmost importance to Putin.)
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Although Rubezhnoy is a federal employee with a fixed income, his wealth has been documented in other ways, such as when his wife or daughters buy luxury real estate in Rublyovka, Moscow’s Beverly Hills. And as for those other companies, well, Rubezhnoy doesn’t technically run or own them: Kremlev does.
Then, Trump made a bullshit statement to try to make it go away. Not only did he claim Don Jr had or would pay back the lavish gift, but he insinuated that Don Jr simply didn’t do a background check.
President Donald Trump on Friday claimed his son, Donald Trump Jr., paid back the Russian billionaire who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund parts of Trump Jr.’s wedding celebration in the Bahamas.
“As I understand it, he paid him back,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, referring to Umar Kremlev, the Kremlin-connected businessman who ProPublica reported paid for aspects of the party.
The assertion by Trump is the most serious sign from the administration of possible discomfort with the payment, although the president also said it was common for someone’s friend to pay for a celebration connected to their wedding.
“A person that he knows — I guess, a friend of his — gave him a wedding party. That’s very common. I’ve heard of many people giving wedding parties,” Trump said.
When asked if it was appropriate for Kremlev to fund the celebration, Trump said, “it’s totally allowed” and dismissed concerns about Kremlev’s ties to the Kremlin, saying “maybe (Trump Jr.) didn’t do a background check.”
But it’s not just Don Jr who is supposed to do background checks of the Russians he lets buy him lavish parties.
That’s true for reasons laid out in a different ProPublica story published days after the wedding. Don Jr is no longer just Daddy’s failson. He’s looting the government. More specifically, a company funded by Don Jr investment fund got a $620 million loan from the Defense Department to develop drone magnets, a crucial technology.
When the Pentagon announced a $620 million loan last year to a small North Carolina startup linked to Donald Trump Jr., defense officials and the company tried to tamp down suspicions of cronyism.
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In August 2025, Vulcan announced $65 million in investments, including from 1789 Capital, the venture firm that Trump Jr. joined as a partner after his father was elected to a second term. Neither 1789 nor Vulcan has publicly disclosed how much of a stake the venture firm has taken.
Staff in the Office of Strategic Capital learned of the White House request to give a loan to Vulcan around September or October, an official involved said. It’s unclear how the White House request was delivered or if it was presented as an order or a recommendation. Companies considered for funding are generally vetted for many months, the person said, but this deal was completed in a matter of weeks because they were told it was a White House priority.
Asked about the Vulcan deal being expedited, the Pentagon spokesperson said defense officials balance “lightning speed with rigorous diligence to close high-impact deals that directly strengthen America’s defense and empower our warfighters.”
In November, the Pentagon announced its plans to lend $620 million to the company and another $80 million to its partner, ReElement. The company would also get $50 million in incentives from the Commerce Department. In exchange, the government would take a $50 million stake in Vulcan with the right to buy more later.
Vulcan, which at the time had fewer than 50 employees, said it would use the windfall to build a large new facility that would churn out thousands of tons of magnets a year. It said it planned to ramp up in the coming years, adding hundreds of new jobs.
The deal was good news for Vulcan’s investors, including Trump Jr.’s firm. Estimates of Vulcan’s valuation went from around $200 million near the time 1789 Capital first invested, according to Bloomberg, to around $2 billion.
Bloomberg first reported on the importance of Vulcan’s deal in March.
Rare-earth magnets are part of the invisible warp and weft of modern life. They help seat belts fasten, wind turbines spin and missiles launch. But China has long had a choke hold on their production.
Vulcan Elements, a three-year-old startup, aims to build the largest rare-earth magnet factory in the world outside China. These powerful parts—much stronger than the ceramic kind loaded into household appliances—are fashioned from difficult-to-isolate elements and act as a linchpin for satellites, drones, robotics and a range of other defense technologies. Vulcan’s operations will transform a once-mainly agricultural corner of central North Carolina—and, even more, US industrial policy.
Two important changes bolstered Vulcan’s prospects last year. First, a cadre of venture capital firms invested in the company in August. The group included 1789 Capital, a fund that counts the president’s eldest child, Donald Trump Jr., as a partner. Then, three months later, the US government unveiled a deal backing Vulcan with a loan of more than half a billion dollars. Under the terms of the arrangement, the Department of Commerce will also hold a $50 million stake in the company.
Donny acquires his stake in a NatSec critical company in August, he meets his new oligarch handler in September at the same time DOD is considering this deal, in November Donny’s company gets $620 million, and just as this is becoming public, Donny excludes long-term friends from his wedding but instead invites the bagman for Putin’s bodyguard.
This is not just a scandalous failure on Donny’s part (Russia pegged him as the best combination of venal and stupid to get to Trump a decade ago). It’s a scandalous lack of vetting at DOD, to entrust a key national security investment with a guy being bribed by Putin’s closest cronies.
It’s not just Don Jr who needs to answer some questions. So does Whiskey Pete Hegseth.
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